this output has two parts: (1) CONFERENCE AVERAGES&nbsp (listed top-to-bottom & alphabetically)&nbsp (2) teams listed by CONFERENCE&nbsp (listed in order within conferences)

The SCHEDULE ratings represent what the rating would have to be for ahypothetical team to have a mathematical expectation of winning precisely 50%of their games against the schedule played by the team in question in the gamesthat it has played so far. The schedule difficulty of each given game takesinto account the rating of the opponent and the location of the game. Thisis the same concept that is used in computing the WIN50% conference ratings.

In COLLEGE FOOTBALL the W-L records include ALL games, but ONLYgames between the 252 TEAMS RATED&nbsphere are used for RATING and SCHEDULESTRENGTH computations.

To make predictions for upcoming games, simply compare the RATINGS ofthe teams in question and allow an ADDITIONAL 3 points for the hometeam. Thus, for example, a HOME team with a rating of 92 would befavored by 5 points over a VISITING team having a rating of 90.Or a VISITING team with a rating of 89 would be favored by 7 pointsover a HOME team having a rating of 79.

NOTE: Use whatever home advantage is listed in the output below.&nbsp In the example just above, a home edge of 3 was shown for&nbsp illustrative purposes. The home edge will vary during the season.Several different home edges are shown, one for each of the several different type of ratingsdirectly over their respective columns.

The numbers to the right of a team's schedule strengthare its rank of schedule - (in parentheses) - and itsrecord versus teams in these rating's&nbspCURRENT&nbsptop 10and top 30&nbsprespectively.

Teams that appear to be tied to two decimal places in a given column are actuallydifferent when carried to more decimal places in the computer's internal arithmetic.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In PURE_ELO, only winning&nbspand losing&nbspmatters; the score margin&nbspis of no consequence,which makes it very good at retro-fitting the W-L results. The PURE_ELO&nbspwill be used by the BCS.&nbspHowever it isless accurate&nbspin its predictions&nbspfor upcoming games&nbspthan is the PURE POINTS, in which thescore margin&nbspis the only thing&nbspthat matters. PURE POINTS&nbspis also known as PREDICTOR,BALLANTINE, RHEINGOLD, WHITE OWL&nbspand is a very good PREDICTOR&nbspof future games.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------DIMIN_CURVE&nbspapplies ELO principles&nbspto the actual SCORES&nbspof the games and so it is now SCORE BASEDand thus should be a good match for the PURE POINTS&nbspin terms of predictive accuracy for upcoming games.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The overall RATING&nbspis a synthesis&nbspof the two somewhat different SCORE BASED&nbspmethods,DIMIN_CURVE&nbspand PURE POINTS (PREDICTOR), and thus should be a good predictor in its own right.

Conference Rankings

There are three group ratings, the "central mean", the"simple average"&nbsp(also known as the "arithmetic mean",)and the WIN50%.The "central mean"&nbspgives the most weight to the middle team(s)in the group and progressively less weight to teams as you goaway from the middle in either direction, up or down.This tends to smooth out the effect of anomalous teams that are ratedmuch higher and lower than the middle team(s) in the group. The"simple average" ("arithmetic mean")&nbspweights each team equallyno matter where they are relative to the middle.Here are a few examples of how the "central mean"&nbspis computed.&nbsp 4-team group ___ the weights are 1-2-2-1&nbsp 5-team group ___ the weights are 1-2-3-2-1&nbsp 6-team group ___ the weights are 1-2-3-3-2-1&nbsp 7-team group ___ the weights are 1-2-3-4-3-2-1&nbsp 8-team group ___ the weights are 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1&nbsp 9-team group ___ the weights are 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1&nbsp10-team group ___ the weights are 1-2-3-4-5-5-4-3-2-1&nbsp11-team group ___ the weights are 1-2-3-4-5-6-5-4-3-2-1&nbsp12-team group ___ the weights are 1-2-3-4-5-6-6-5-4-3-2-1&nbsp13-team group ___ the weights are 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-6-5-4-3-2-1This is an expanded version of the "tri-mean".

The WIN50%&nbspis the rating required to win 50% of the games if playing aninfinite number of round-robins in the given group at a neutral location.